Famous Cases & Criminals

Famous Cases & Criminals

John Dillinger. Al Capone. The KKK. The Unabomber. John Gotti. Bonnie and Clyde. The FBI has investigated them all… and many more spies, terrorists, and criminals besides.

Listed below, grouped according to our top investigative priorities and related categories, are many of our famous and most significant cases over the past century. The monographs and write-ups below have been made available for your use. You may download them for any non-commercial use without obtaining permission from the FBI. If you don’t see a case listed here, try our search engine or history story index.

They were the most lethal terrorist attacks in history, taking the lives of 3,000 Americans and international citizens and ultimately leading to far-reaching changes in anti-terror approaches and operations in the U.S. and around the globe.

Soon after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, letters laced with anthrax began appearing in the U.S. mail. Five Americans were killed and 17 were sickened in what became the worst biological attacks in U.S. history.

Our the course of 23 days, two snipers terrorized the Washington, D.C. area, killing 10 people (including an FBI analyst) and critically injuring three before a multi-agency investigation tracked them down.

On August 7, 1998, nearly simultaneous bombs blew up in front of the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Two hundred and twenty-four people died in the blasts, including 12 Americans, and more than 4,500 people were wounded.

Between 1996 to 1998, bombs exploded four times in Atlanta and Birmingham, killing two and injuring hundreds and setting off what turned out to be a five-year manhunt for the suspected bomber Eric Robert Rudolph.

On June 2, 1919, a militant anarchist named Carlo Valdinoci blew up the front of newly appointed Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s home in Washington, D.C.—and himself up in the process when the bomb exploded too early.